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Instead of price controls to prevent gouging, why doesn't the government build up reserves and stockpiles? (lemmy.crimedad.work)

submitted 2 months ago by CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work to c/economics@lemmy.ml

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cross-posted from: https://jorts.horse/users/fathermcgruder/statuses/113008342518705813

Instead of price controls to prevent gouging, why doesn't the government build up reserves and stockpiles?

#economics #HarrisWalz #PriceControls #gouging

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[–] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (8 children)

So you spend taxes for product at market rate and then depress the price using your money? The government doesn't make anything so it would need to acquire the materials with some kind of cost that will always come from the tax base 100% of the time.

[–] hotelbravo722@slrpnk.net 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I agree the money is going to come from the monetary supply and government acting as buyer and distributor of goods would be incredibly problematic. A subsidy of some kind for domestic production + placing a max profit markup IMO would be a more effective method.

[–] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What your suggesting had been done, and it causes a price floor and the formation of a black market 100% of the time. This is not a solution.

[–] hotelbravo722@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Then perhaps reforming the commons? Agricultural land & surplus are owned in common by the people who live in the area. Government pays for the production of those food stuffs and only gets a nominal % tax on the surplus.

[–] gaiussabinus@lemmy.world -2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The Soviets tried that and it is the root cause of some of the most serious famines ever seen. Not a good idea. Government, by its nature, is an inefficiency engine. You want the government in the picture as little as possible. This increases that and will cause more inequality not less.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The Soviets tried that and it is the root cause of some of the most serious famines ever seen.

There was one famine, and it happened near the beginning of the Soviet Union’s history, after a civil war. And this was a country where for centuries under tsarist rule famines had been a common occurrence. What the Soviet Union did was end famines.

Government, by its nature, is an inefficiency engine.

This sounds like neoliberal Road to Serfdom nonsense. Inefficient compared to what, the invisible hand?

This increases that and will cause more inequality not less.

Inequality in Russia has risen since the fall of the Soviet Union. Are you unaware of the shock therapy that befell many of the Warsaw pact states? As shock therapist Jeffrey Sachs will tell you, the reason Poland was the sole “success story” is that the US chose to allow it to be a success.

[–] hotelbravo722@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

Who said Gov is an inefficiency engine? That sounds more like neo-liberal dogma then actual peer reviewed work.

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